Long-wheelbase Benzes have a long and proud history, having been owned by such icons of cool as John Lennon and Hugh Hefner, as well as infamous villains like Pol Pot, “Baby Doc” Duvalier and Jeremy Clarkson. And, as Auto Motor und Sport informs us, the decline of other glandular vehicles like the Suburban has not prevented a new round of six-door Benz models. In fact, something about this picture indicates that vehicular size inflation is not completely a thing of the past… can you spot it?

If you guessed that the new Benz by Binz (yes, that’s the company’s name) is simply larger than previous Großer models, you were wrong. The original 600 Pullman of 1963 measured 6.24 meters long, eclipsing this latest model’s 5.98 meters. And at 4,630-ish pounds, the latest Großer is a mere feather compared to the 1963 Pullman’s 6,100 pound dry weight. No, the answer is slightly less obvious than that…

That’s right, this is a Großer Kleiner. A stretched, six-door version of the Mercedes E-Class. Remember, Mercedes has a whole gross, er, Groß brand dedicated to 6+ meter-long, 6,000+ pound stretched S Classes: Maybach. But then, who could picture the next John Lennon in one of those?

It actually looks a lot like the old W123 long models used as taxicabs, like this http://bringatrailer.com/2009/12/29/round-two-1983-mercedes-benz-300d-langversion/ so it’s not totally crazy to stretch an E-class since it’s the successor to the w123.

Mercedes has a long history of making factory built converions and stretched versions of their mid size cars. They are primarily not built on Mercedes for the luxury brand connotations, but for the quality and longevity of the mechanics. The first of those were the so called “Haifa Taxi”, built on the fintail Mercedes, on 200D mechanics. Acceleration must have been on the wrong side of abysmal. Next where the Stricht Acht mid size, W114/115, on 200D/240D and 230 basis. Next was the W123 on the 240D/300D and 250 basis. They were primarily used as taxis, mostly as courtesy cars for hotels, airport shuttles, and as school buses. In Sweden, it was not uncommon to see those hauling children to school in rural areas, where a taxi would be too small, and a bus too large. So, it’s not really a luxury issue, thus, they are not built on the more luxurious platforms.